


(W)hole

by VolxdoSioda



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Spoilers for Chapter 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:04:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21688798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VolxdoSioda/pseuds/VolxdoSioda
Summary: It's quiet.
Relationships: BB-28 | Louise & Sam Porter Bridges
Comments: 6
Kudos: 66





	(W)hole

Once, there was a time when Sam Porter Bridges looked at BB and thought _what good will this thing do me?_

Now, he tries not to think of the empty spot against his chest where Lou - BB-28 - once sat. It's so _different _without her. He's used to hearing her constantly, filtered as background noise, but important background noise. He knew when she was happy, when she was fussy, when she felt something in the air. 

He's grown used to her noises. To her. It's why, when Deadman starts talking about _resetting _her, and why, when he wakes and finds her _gone _from his room, the first thing to hit him is the sheer terror. The thought that someone had come into his room while he slept, the same person who'd fucked with the Q-Pid possibly, or even that bastard Higgs, or someone _else _working for them, and taken her. 

But no. Apparently Lou is growing up - becoming a person, and they can't have that. Outside of her jar, she's dead in the water. Not even a chance, Deadman explains. _A brick, _he calls her, and that makes something in Sam flinch, both in rage and terror. 

He doesn't want her to die. He doesn't want her to become a brick. So even as something sick crawls into the pit of his chest and roosts there, he agrees. 

Going outside feels strange, especially with everything that gets dumped on him - it's chaos on top of chaos on top of sheer _madness. _

But, it's exactly something America would pull. _Has pulled, _in the past. Sam knows that much. Make an atrocity, sweep it under the rug, and deny all involvement, even as orders are given to continue committing the atrocity itself. The way of the American People, as old as time itself. 

Still, for now he puts that aside. His mind is instead consumed with thoughts of BB - worries, fears, and a growing, gnawing anxiety that will not settle until he has her again. And even then, it might not. 

Once, he would have looked at Timefall clouds in the distance, and shrugged, because he had a package to get to its destination. That was when he had Lou, when the BTs were things to be avoided, or at worst, fought. He still has the weapons, but he doesn't have Lou. 

And without Lou, he might as well sit on a stick and twirl for all the good it'll do him. 

So he waits. He checks the time of the storm lingering over the Roboticist's lab, and he _waits. _Sits and watches the sky - watches the thin black threads twirl down, a sign that BTs are there, a sign few people rarely think to look for. He watches, counting the minutes as the black lines thin and fade, and when he can only see them in the far distance, he gets up and starts walking.

Once, he says, "You doin' okay, kid?"

He's used to touching base with Lou. BB. To making sure she's okay at least once an expedition. Especially in cold weather. He worries, and frets, but he does his damndest to keep her safe. It's odd, the knowledge that for once, he has to trust someone else to keep BB safe. To make sure she's alright.

"Just ain't the same without you kid."

He drops the load, as promised, only for Hardman to turn around and demand he fulfill an order. Not surprising, given how sour the guy sounded earlier, telling him they'd have to hold off until BB got fixed. And when BB herself comes on the holo, Sam can't keep his eyes off her. 

She's his partner. His to protect, to keep happy. He'd crawl down the road to hell if it meant she'd live to see another day. 

_You have to keep fighting, _Deadman tells him, and Sam clings to that like a vine. One foot in front of the other, keep moving, don't let the nightmares stay. Keep going. Do it for yourself, but do it for her too.

He catches a quick nap there, as a storm rolls out overhead. Sleeping is strange - he crosses his arms over his chest, to put his hands in his armpits so he'll have something to cling to. He's used to holding the container for Lou - used to hearing the soft whirr of her checking up on _him _every so often. How funny is that, he thinks as he drifts, that she checks and watches for him too. But then, she's always done that, even when Sam wasn't sure about her. Back when he'd needed her help to escape the incinerator alive, she'd done as she'd been asked, and expected nothing back.

_Trust her, _Sam tells himself, as he heads back to Mountain Knot. _If you can't trust Hardman, trust Lou. She's always been there. Always will be._


End file.
